Shadowed Lightning
by strangely-wise
Summary: Twelve Trials left undone,    Sky and Shadow allied in the Gods' gaze,    Will be the only ones to stop the Sun,    Who, in his ire, could leave nothing left to save.
1. Enter, Hunters of Artemis

**Chapter 1 – Enter, Hunters of Artemis**

Nico stepped out of the shadows of an alleyway somewhere in Los Angeles. Black converse silently hit the pavement of the sidewalk as Nico pulled up the hood of his black jacket over his dark head hair, getting the sun out of his eyes. He passed pedestrians on the sidewalk, they gave a wide berth to what they thought was a troublesome teenager.

Finally, Nico crossed the street and came to his destination, an old Fifties-style diner. Inside, there was a group of silver-clad girls. Nico was not looking forward to this 'friendly visit' as his father had so quaintly put it; this was more like jumping into the frying pan.

As soon as he had entered the diner, the group of girls went deathly quiet. One of them stood up and came to meet him, she had the body of a twelve year old, but anyone who had met the Hunters of Artemis knew better. The goddess herself was coming to him, and she did not look happy.

"Nico Di'Angelo, Where is Hades?" Artemis demanded, staring Nico down, which was quite impressive considering she was two feet shorter than Nico in his almost-six-foot frame of his almost-sixteen-year-old body.

Nico shrugged, pulling down his hood and staring Artemis in her silver eyes, "He sent me instead. Problem?"

Artemis frowned, "His son will do, I suppose." Artemis turned on her heel and strode into one of the empty booths of the diner, Nico followed. The silver-clad girls around him stopped their whispered conversations as he passed.

The Hunters of Artemis, the most famous, teenage, boy-hating clique of never-aging females that Nico had ever laid eyes upon. And his father had sent him right into it. In his opinion, it was worse than entering the Underworld, this coming from a boy who is the son of the ruler of the Underworld, Hades.

Nico took a seat across from Artemis in the booth. With a wave her hand, a plate of steaming venison was in front of him. "Eat." Artemis ordered. Nico ate, knowing that it meant that Artemis had at least a grudging respect for Nico, even though he was a male. Not many men could say that he had survived a visit with the Hunters of Artemis, but Nico could. But it was probably because of his late older sister, Bianca. She had joined them right after they had discovered that Greek Mythology wasn't much of a myth.

Bianca had joined the Hunters of Artemis, leaving a twelve-year-old Nico to go to Camp Half-Blood alone. Bianca had gone on a quest with famous son of Poseidon, Percy Jackson, and didn't come back alive. It was when Percy told him that his sister had died did he finally discover who his parent was, he had opened up a chasm straight into the Underworld, something only a son of Hades could possible do. But after a few years and almost the end of the world, everything went over okay.

And here he was, sitting in front of the Goddess of the Hunt, Maidens, and Moon, eating venison. Really good venison, too. While he ate, Artemis explained what she needed.

"I'm requesting passage into the Underworld. I wish to gather information from someone deceased." She said.

"That's quite a serious request, Artemis. I'm sure you know that not many have ventured in and out of the Underworld easily." Nico said, taking another bite of venison.

"I am aware, which is why I needed to speak directly to Hades." Artemis said.

Nico thought this over, and then decided it was best if his father organized this visit to the Underworld. "I'll see what I can do."

He got up and walked into the bathroom. He turned off all of the lights and the room was enveloped in shadow. Employing his shadow travel, he arrived in the Underworld with no trouble. Being the son of Hades did have its perks, like not having to die to visit your father.

Nico strode into Hades' throne room, where the Lord of the Underworld was sitting on his ebony throne, and passing judgment on what seemed to be a difficult case.

The chained man was kneeling to the ground, "Lord Hades, I swear, I did not mean to drink and drive!"

"And the texts?" Hades pointed out.

"I haven't had a problem texting and driving before now!" The man said.

"And now you're dead." Hades said. "But seeing as you're not evil, and it was just you in the car, I leave you to the Fields." Declared Hades. The man sighed in almost relief until Hades said, "But put him in the back of the line."

The man widened his eyes, "I have to wait through the line again! Can't I just—" The man didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as a pair of WWI skeletons took hold of him and escorted him out of the throne room.

Hades spied his son, "Nico. How is the visit with Artemis?" He asked.

Nico sighed, "You fed me to the wolves."

Hades smirked. "What did Artemis want?" he then asked.

"She wants passage into the Underworld to speak with some dead guy." Nico replied.

Hades thought this over, "Bring Artemis to me. Tell her to bring a few of her Hunters." He said.

"Will do. Be right back." said Nico, then shadow traveled back into dark bathroom of the diner.

Exiting, he sat back down in the booth where Artemis was still seated, but the venison was gone, much to Nico's disappointment. It was really good food. Artemis looked expectantly up at him.

"Hades says he'll speak with you. He says to take a few Hunters with you." Nico told her.

Artemis nodded, and then chose her Hunters, "Thalia, Phoebe, Hazel." She called. Immediately the three girls ran up to Artemis.

"Yes, Lady Artemis?" said the spiky-haired and electric blue-eyed Thalia. Nico knew her from the night when Bianca joined the Hunters. He'd heard that she had joined them.

"We are going into the Underworld. Are you prepared to come?" Artemis asked her Hunters.

Thalia nodded her head and pulled out a canister of mace, which turned into an spear, which Nico knew was lethal in Thalia's hand. Artemis rose from the booth, and then looked to Nico. Taking the cue, Nico led them to the still darkened bathroom.

"I am _not_ going in there." Said one of the Hunters, gesturing to the bathroom.

Thalia grimaced, "Neither am I, Death Breath." Nico raised an eyebrow as Thalia's nickname for him.

"For your information, I brushed my teeth this morning." He flashed a smile at Thalia, showing off his pearly whites, "and it's either this bathroom or the alley across the street with a dirty hobo in it. You're choice."

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever, Death Breath." Nico proceeded into the bathroom and held the door until everyone had, reluctantly, filed in.

Nico briefly prepared them for his shadow travel, "Just keep hold of me the entire time and don't get freaked out by the noises or things grabbing you. They're harmless when you're with me." He said, holding out his arms for the girls to take them.

Though there was a little under the breath grumbling, the girls took hold of his arms. Nico closed his eyes and concentrated, he'd done jobs like this before, but it was always ten times harder than just shadow traveling just him, and slower, not to mention it left him sleepy.

After a deep breath, Nico called upon his powers and propelled them through what he called the shadow world. Usually when he shadow travels by himself, he isn't bothered by any of the grabbing and noises, but now, things grabbed at his clothes and screams of tortured souls rang throughout the darkness. All but the grip of Artemis tightened on his arms. Beside him, he heard the scared whimper of one of the Hunters he didn't know.

Suddenly, the grabs and screams stopped and they were in Hades' throne room. The Hunters and Artemis immediately dropped his arms and Nico let out a huge yawn, all of a sudden extremely sleepy. Meanwhile, the Hunters and Hades started discussing.

"Artemis, so you wish to interview one of my deceased?" He asked.

"Yes. I wish to speak with Geryon, who recently was killed by Percy Jackson. He has information on my most recent prey." Artemis informed.

"Geryon? The former owner of the Triple G Ranch?" He asked.

"Yes. He was the caretaker of a dangerous animal. It has escaped and is wreaking havoc all of the country. I need to speak with him so that I can know exactly what this animal is so I can destroy it before it becomes unstoppable."

Hades nodded, thinking over the situation. "You may speak with Geryon, however, you will need to pay a price"

"What price?" Artemis asked, a small touch of fear in her voice.

"In order for you and your Hunters to return to the living realm unharmed, you need to sacrifice the immortality of one of your Hunters."

The Hunters were silent. Thalia broke the silence, "I'll sacrifice my immortality, Lady Artemis."

"No! Thalia, I cannot permit you to do this!" Artemis protested, genuinely distressed at the price of passage. Nico was still standing off to the side, unable to move. He knew that the price of passage was always steep, but it was so much different for someone he knew to pay the price.

He spoke up, "Father. By immortality, you don't mean that they die straight away, do you?"

Hades looked at his son, "Only if they get killed as soon as they enter the mortal realm again. Otherwise they'll live a normal human lifespan."

Nico sighed, relieved that someone he knew wouldn't have to die straight away. Artemis was holding Thalia's hand, whispering to Thalia. For a few moments, they spoke, and eventually Artemis turned back to Hades with teary eyes.

"Thalia Grace has sacrificed her immortality on my behalf. But as a gift to her for such a sacrifice, she will keep her talents of archery and the skills she has gained during the Hunt." Artemis declared.

"Very well." Hades accepted.

Artemis turned to Thalia, taking hold of her hands. Thalia's electric blue eyes shimmered with tears as Artemis spoke, "Thalia Grace, you have served faithfully as the Lieutenant if the Hunt. You are honorably discharged from my service."

Thalia was enveloped in silver and when the light faded, she fainted into Artemis's arms.


	2. Prophecy from a Dare

**A/N: **Okay! So I sincerely apologize for not getting this out sooner, but Rick Riordan's Son of Neptune came out and I _had_ to read it. And because the events in said book conflict with the plot in my piece of fiction, I'm going to just continue on with my plot as if it didn't happen. This is based solely off of the original Percy Jackson series; however, there might be some surprise appearances on a few characters.

Also, I re-read and first chapter and discovered, I had not used nearly enough adjectives, so, I made it my goal to be a bit more descriptive in this chapter. Now, on to the reading!

**Chapter 2 – Prophecy from a Dare**

Artemis stood in the shadows of Hades' throne room, still holding the passed out Thalia. At a gesture from his father, Nico walked over and took the unconscious form of the daughter of Zeus from Artemis, awkwardly holding the girl bridal style.

Artemis relinquished her hold on her ex-Lieutenant and looked Nico in his black irises, straight into his soul. "Take care of her." Nico stood frozen, locked in the silver gaze of the Goddess. In them Nico saw millennia of wisdom and sadness in the depths of Artemis's eyes, and something that told him that Artemis knew more than she let on. He was pulled out of the trance once Artemis turned and faces Hades, who was lounging on his ebony throne, brushing off non-existent dust from his expensive black business suit.

"Take me to Geryon." She demanded. Hades, as if giving up immortality was an everyday thing, waved over one of his skeleton soldiers. The skeleton obeyed the unspoken command and escorted the Hunters out of the throne room, leaving Nico standing there with Thalia in his arms.

"Nico." Hades called, grabbing his son's attention.

Shifting Thalia in his arms, he answered, "Yeah?"

Hades stepped down from his throne to walk over to his son, "Take Miss Grace to Camp Half-Blood." Nico nodded and was about to reply with a yes, but was silence once he saw a certain look in Hades' dark eyes. "Nico," he said again, "I am not able to give you much information-wise, but here."

Hades held out his hand and something wrapped in black fabric appeared. Nico incredulously looked at his father. His father averted his eyes so that he didn't have to look Nico in the eyes. Belatedly, Nico realized that this must have been awkward for his father, who wasn't really the "giving gifts" type.

Hades, wondering why Nico hadn't taken the package yet, realized that his son still had the fainted daughter of Zeus in his arms. "Oh, I'll, um, leave this in your cabin at Camp." Hades mumbled, feeling awkward. The package disappeared as Nico finally got over the slight shock of his father offering a gift.

"Thanks, Dad." Nico blurted as he saw his father begin to turn around.

Hades put a fatherly hand on his shoulder, "Be careful." He said, and then faded away into the shadows, leaving Nico alone with Thalia. Nico looked down at the unconscious girl in his arms, not really sure what to do with her or what his dad had just said. But obviously, something was about to happen.

In his arms, Thalia fidgeted. Looking down, Nico saw Thalia slowly come out of her fainting spell. Suddenly, Thalia opened her electric blue eyes to deep black ones staring down at her. They both stood in the middle of the throne room, at a stalemate, waiting for one of them to say something.

"I'm mortal again, aren't I?" Thalia whispered, remembering the moments before she fainted. Nico just nodded, lost in the electric storm of Thalia's eyes. Nico could have sworn that he saw a streak of lightning flash in her eyes. Not a millisecond later, the girl jerked out of Nico's arms.

Thalia, dizzy and with a bad case of vertigo, stumbled and almost fell over. If it had not been for the quick thinking of Nico, she would have face planted into the polished marble of Hades' throne room.

Thalia let herself be steadied, and then she looked back at Nico, "So did Lady Artemis continue?"

"Yeah." Nico answered, "Right after you turned into a flashlight and fainted." Thalia looked relieved.

"How do you feel?" Nico asked, still supporting the girl from falling over.

She seemed to think about it for a second. "I feel like…I've just finished the best candy bar in the world. And there's no more left.

"Odd way of putting it." Nico observed.

"Well, what can you do?" Thalia shrugged, brushing off the fact that she had just given up immortality like she was just commenting on how great the weather was being. "So what do we do now?" Thalia asked.

"I'm supposed to take you to Camp." He replied.

Thalia sighed, "I hope I won't get turned into a tree this time."

Nico laughed, "I doubt that would happen again, maybe a bush or something." He joked.

Thalia punched his arm. "Not funny, Death Breath."

He just laughed. "C'mon, let's get to Camp." Thalia nodded, shifting in the arms of Nico to ready herself for another venture into the shadow world. Nico summoned the shadows around him and delved into another trip into the world of shadows.

Thalia's grip tightened as she heard the screams and felt things grabbing her. Thankfully, the trip was shorter than the one into the Underworld and they popped up in the dark shadow of some tree beside the lake in Camp Half-Blood.

Thalia, relived to be out of the shadows, relaxed her grip on Nico, only to tighten it once again as they were assaulted by the red-headed form of the current Oracle of Delphi, Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

_Twelve Trials left undone, _

_Sky and Shadow allied in the Gods' gaze, _

_Will be the only ones to stop the Sun, _

_Who, in his ire, could leave nothing left to save. _

Thalia and Nico stared at the foreseeing red-head. The green mist that was previously spilling out of Rachel's mouth was dissipating in the breeze coming from the coast of the ocean. Suddenly, the Oracle snapped back into reality.

She looked around her, realizing that she was in Camp Half-Blood. "What? I swear I was just putting the books in my—" She finally saw the two bewildered forms in front of her, "Oh. What did I say this time?" Rachel asked, somehow not surprised to wake up from a prophecy-induced trance in Camp.

Thalia recovered sooner than Nico, "We should go talk to Chiron." She said


	3. The Sun, his Sky, and his Shadow

**A/N: So, long time no read, eh? I apologize for that, I'm so busy, it should be illegal. And here I thought I might get a reprieve during the holiday. Nope, if anything, I'm busier. :P Anyway, enough of my complaining! Read on!**

~~::~~

**The Sun, his Sky, and his Shadow. **

Thalia could not believe her luck. First, she took a trip to the Underworld via shadow-travel. Not the mode of transportation that she would have chosen. Once there, she gave up immortality and had apparently passed out and woke up in the son of Hades' arms, with a huge headache! But that's not all, folks! She had to go to Camp Half Blood where before she could even take a step, was attacked by the Oracle and given a prophecy!

If Thalia ever found the goddess of luck, she was going to wring her neck.

Behind her, she heard someone yelp. Turning around, Thalia saw a smoking black circle in front of Nico, who was giving her his 'death glare'. Thalia realized that in her brooding, she must have sparked the ground behind her.

"Sorry, didn't mean to." Thalia apologized, turning around and continuing on her way to the Big House, where she saw Chiron standing on the deck with his bow and arrows attached to his back, talking to a group of demigods from the cabin Apollo. She could still feel Nico's glare on her back, and she felt a ripple of fear tighten her spine. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and she was about to turn around and tell Nico to knock it off or she'll fry him when Chiron shouted her name across the clearing.

Thundering down the slight hill the three teens were marching up, Chiron met them halfway, "Come, we have no time to lose." And with that, he picked the three up and threw them onto his back, Thalia deposited in front of Rachel and behind Nico. Before anyone could inquire as to what was so important, Chiron charged forward, stealing any breath that they had been able to collect away.

Bending the distance, Chiron arrived at the mess hall, where there was a circle of the cabin leaders, in full battle armor and not arguing. Even Clarisse, as volatile as she was, was simply standing in the circle and closely watching Chiron as he all but shoved the three off of his back.

"Nico?" Percy said, surprised to see the dark boy following Chiron.

"Thalia!" Annabeth called and ran to give her friend a hug.

"Hey, Annabeth, what's all this about?" Thalia asked, giving her friend a squeeze and then gesturing to the gathered leaders.

Annabeth sighed, "We were in the middle of a game of Capture the Flag when—"

"I'm not getting any younger!" Clarisse shouted, "See as the new Oracle is here, let's see what this new prophecy is about and decide if it's connected or not."

Chiron stepped forward, "Clarisse is right," He turned to the newly-arrived trio, "What did it say?"

Thalia spoke first, shifting a little, "I don't really remember most of the first part, I was still kinda recovering from shadow travel and losing my immortality…"

Annabeth started, then grasped Thalia's wrist in a crushing grip, "You lost your immortality, why?"

The blond-haired and stormy eyed girl looked like she wished to go on, but Chiron's voice all but commanded, "Start at the beginning."

Taking a deep breath, the spiky haired demigoddess began, "The Hunters were wishing entrance into the Underworld so that we could speak to someone who would have information of our recent prey. Nico was sent in place of Hades, and he brought a few of us down into the Underworld. But as passage, he required one of the Hunters to give up their immortality, I volunteered."

"You volunteered! You gave up immortality just so some other people could talk to the guy without you?" Clarrise shouted.

Nico felt the air around the area become saturated with static electricity. Looking at Thalia, he saw her glaring at the demigoddess, "No. I did it so that they could get out of the underworld, Clarrise! I was honored to that for Lady Artemis!"

Clarrise was about to retort when Chiron intervened, "We don't have time for this! Continue Thalia."

Thalia struggled to rein in the desire to turn the Ares girl to a crisp. After a deep breath, she continued, "Lady Artemis honorably discharged me from her service. After taking away my immortality, I passed out. After I woke up, Nico said the Hades told us to come here. When we arrived, Rachel was there, she gave us the prophecy, and you should know the rest."

"And the prophecy, what did it say?'

Thalia looked at Nico, "I don't remember most of it. Did you hear all of it Nico?"

Nico sighed, "Yeah." He hated being the center of attention. In his experience, being the center of attention meant that he was the next target. Ready to get this over, he recited the prophecy. "_Twelve Trials left undone, Sky and Shadow allied in the Gods' gaze, Will be the only ones to stop the Sun, Who, in his ire, could leave nothing left to save._"

Percy spoke next, "Makes sense with what Apollo said."

"What? When did Apollo come to visit? And what did he say?" Thalia asked to anyone who could answer. She looked to Annabeth.

"That's what I was talking about earlier, when we were playing Capture the Flag, Apollo came down and told us that things were getting antsy up in Olympus. He said that the Gods' were constantly fighting and if something didn't happen, he was going to have to do something drastic…"

"What are they fighting over?" Thalia asked.

Nico answered, "Hades says over their egos." There was a rumble of thunder above them. Nico just rolled his eyes and continued, "Since the end of the last Big Prophecy, the strain of who did what and what recognition they deserve has gotten to a boiling point. Especially between Zeus and Hades, Zeus feels slighted that Hades recognized the real threat wasn't Typhon before he did, so he pointed out that Hades had directly disobeyed his orders to help fight Typhon. Since then, things have…digressed."

Everyone looked at Chiron for an evaluation of all the information. After about a minute or so, he spoke, "I have concluded that the Twelve Trials are the Trials of Hercules. The Sky and Shadow, undoubtedly, are both Thalia and Nico." The mentioned two were about to object, but Chiron silenced them with a look, "The Sun is Apollo, and if something isn't done to help alleviate the stress in Olympus, he could destroy everything."

Finally not able to hold back any longer, Thalia objected, "Why me and Nico? What makes us so special for the job? And what do completing the Twelve Trials have to do with preventing Apollo from destroying things!"

"Thalia, I myself have no idea, but, as you know, prophecies are vague, and are often not understandable until the very end." Chiron said.

"But why me? Why Nico?"

Before Chiron could say anything, Nico spoke, "I agree with Chiron. It's pretty obvious that I'm the Shadow, and Thalia is the Sky, and seeing it was only us two who were there to hear the prophecy, it pretty much seals the deal. I also agree with Thalia, I have no idea what the Trials have to do with the whole Olympus deal, but it's not like we can ignore it. So we might as well get what rest we can and set out in the morning."

With that, Nico turned around and walked out of the mess hall and headed for his cabin.


	4. Kid on Halloween

**A/N:** This one was fun to write. I hope you find it fun to read!

**Chapter 4 – Kid on Halloween**

Nico walked in through the faint light of dawn, very much looking forward to the bed waiting in his cabin, and the sleep that it promised him. Shadow traveling as much as he had done today left him dead on his feet. Pun intended. Just as Nico passed the junction where the trail branched off to the canoe lake or to the cabins, he heard thumps behind him.

"Hold up!" Thalia shouted, jogging after Nico, having left the meeting in the mess hall. "You aren't just going to leave it at that, are you?"

Nico stopped walking and looked into Thalia's electric eyes, which shimmered in the sun's faint rays like reflections in water, "It's not like we can argue with an Oracle, saying, 'Why can't it be a Dove and an Owl?' It's pretty obvious that we need to do this quest, I don't really see any way out of it.

Thalia averted her gaze to the rising sun and pursing her lips, trying to come up with another argument. Before she could come up with one, Nico spoke, "Look, I'm tired. We'll talk about this in the morning."

With that, he walked away, and disappearing underneath the dark canopies of the trees that hung over the trail. Thalia stared after where he disappeared for a moment before she skulked to her own cabin, determined to get some sleep and form arguments for later in the morning.

Finally having arrived to his cabin, and faintly wondering why he hadn't shadow-traveled there in the first place, he plopped down onto his bed, only to have his head hit something hard.

"Ow!" He shouted, he sprung back up and turned around to glare at what had assaulted him. There, resting innocently on his pillow was the culprit. He identified it as the black-wrapped package his dad was awkwardly trying to give him earlier. Giving it one last withering glare for interrupting what would otherwise have been a nice, deep sleep; he tenderly picked it up and set it in his lap.

Finding the edge of the black silk that concealed his gift, Nico folded it away to reveal what was underneath. Amazed, Nico grasped the hilt of his new black-as-night sword. Lifting it entirely from its silken wrappings, he gazed upon a full length of the darkest Stygian iron that he had ever seen; watching as it almost disappeared in the darkness of the room. Inspecting the hilt, Nico saw that it was covered in corded black leather, and on its pommel was a silver skull, the only thing on the sword that reflected any hints of light.

Running a finger over the engraved skull, the sword suddenly disappeared. Frantically, Nico sprung up, eyes scanning the room for any hint to where the sword had gone. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glint of silver. Dark eyes zeroing in on the shine, he realized the skull that was once on the pommel of his sword was now on the face of a ring that rested on index finger.

Utterly amazed, Nico ran a finger over the face of the skull, as he did when it was the pommel of his sword, and the ring vanished. In his hand now was the sword. Smiling, Nico swung it in an arc, watching it as the darkness around it seemed to caress it as it sliced silently in the air. The weight of the sword in Nico's palm was comfortable as Nico then practiced his swordplay against an imaginary opponent in his room, smiling like a kid trick or treating on Halloween.

After a sequence of maneuvers, Nico finally let out a triumphant laugh having defeated the invisible foe. He continued to laugh as he tossed the sword from hand to hand, marveling at how it landed into his palm every time. However, as soon as the childish adrenaline faded, Nico was once again assaulted by a wave of fatigue.

Gliding a finger over the skull pommel, he saw the sword vanish and the ring appear. With an irremovable smile on his face, he sat back down on his bed. He stared at his ring, thinking how this weapon was so much better than the shorter Stygian sword he found a few years ago that he used. He had lost that sword in a battle a few months ago when it flew out of his hand and into the Lethe River while battling a rowdy inhabitant of the Underworld. Unlike Percy, his sword didn't have the handy "return to pocket" trick.

Looking into the darkness as he finally settled into his bed, pulling the covers over him, he said in a grateful prayer to his dad, _"Thank you so much, Dad, I'll be sure to make you proud with my new sword."_


	5. The Inevitable and the Endless

**A/N:** So, this chapter was semi-fun to write. I hope the point of this chapter translates well…it was kind of hard to put what I wanted to put into words…

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**Chapter 5 – The Inevitable and the Endless**

She didn't understand him. Not at all. They were practically being drafted into their own little prophecy-induced war and he was sleeping!

Thalia pounded on the door of Hades cabin with her fist, the black mahogany vibrating under her hand. To either side of the door eerie green flames flickered in rhythm with the door. Under the shade of the little porch area, the irate demigoddess yelled to the person within, "_Wake up!_" punctuating her statement with a hard kick to the already-abused entryway.

No signs of life were heard from the other side of the threshold. Frustrated that she wasn't able to get the lazy boy up to answer the door, she warned him, "Ten seconds and I'm going to come in there and _shock_ you out of bed!" An indiscernible mutter was heard from the inside the cabin.

With a _whoosh_, Nico's cabin was illuminated with the mid-afternoon light. Hissing, Nico buried himself further into his covers, only to have them ripped away. Curling up in a ball, Nico tried to snatch them back from the clutches of Thalia, but she held them out of his reach. The gothic girl surveyed the now-exposed teenager still dressed in the clothes he wore yesterday and threw the black material across the room.

Finally, after a moment, Nico sighed and cautiously opened his eyes. His eyes found Thalia, dressed in an out-of-character orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and faded jeans. Nico gave the girl a withering glare, and Thalia felt the little hairs on the back of her neck telling her it might not have been the best idea to wake the Ghost King from his slumber.

Ignoring the hairs, she spoke in a deceptively calm tone, "Meet me in the mess hall. We need to discuss our quest." With that, she excused herself out of the cabin, stomping away in the direction of said location.

The dark-haired boy, after giving her one last dirty look in her direction, got up and shut the door to his cabin, feeling a little better in the usual shadows of his room. Making his way over to his dresser, he shoved the comforter that was on his form not two minutes ago onto the floor, and tugged out a change of clothes from within the drawers.

Glad that he had changes of clothes of his own choosing, instead of the gaudy orange of the Camp's, he quickly donned them and stepped out into the noon light. Even though it was summer, Nico zipped up his black jacket over his _Dia de Muertos_ t-shirt and tugged the hood up over his head. Looking around the Camp as he made his way to the mess hall, he saw that the Camp was effectively in full swing.

Looking to his right, he saw a canoe capsize on the lake and the three campers that were in it scramble to get back in. Smiling, he looked to the shore where a he saw a few Hephaestus campers laughing at the unfortunate ones in the lake. Up ahead, he saw the climbing wall, shaking and spewing lava at the few campers who were talented enough to take up the challenge of the wall at its best. Even from a distance, he could spy Clarisse's form on the wall, yelling insults at the campmates that were falling behind her.

Finally, he arrived at the mess hall, where he discovered that mostly everyone had eaten their fill and left, leaving only a few from Hermes skipping out on their activities and Thalia, who was at that moment stabbing electric daggers in Nico with her eyes.

Even though the deadly glare sent electricity racing around his skin, Nico ignored it and piled food on his plate. Passing the brazier, he stopped and picked out the very best items on his plate and scraped them into the fire,_ "For you, Dad, thanks for the sword!"_ He thought, rubbing the band to his sword/ring, careful not to touch the face in case it sprang into a sword and he accidentally stabbed someone. When the brazier took his offering, he smelt freshly dug dirt, upturned from a rectangular six foot hole.

Stepping away from the flames, he finally acknowledged the stormy glare that had been following him since he stepped into the building. He walked over to the Big Three table, a new installment in the hall because there were so few people in those cabins and it was kind of stupid to have a whole entire table for just one person.

Thalia took the liberty to talk before Nico had fully settled onto the bench, "I talked to Chiron this morning, while you were sleeping." She said, emphasizing the last part of the sentence with a disapproving tone in her voice.

Looking at her from underneath his hood, he replied, "Well, you try traveling five-thousand miles across country in less than ten seconds and see if you're not tired." Taking a bite of his food, he took satisfaction in the silence that followed after his comment, knowing that he won that round.

Huffing, Thalia continued her story what had happened while he was sleeping, "Chiron gave me with a list of all Twelve Trials that Hercules had to complete." She took out a piece of paper from her faded jeans and handed it to Nico, who took it and read it over.

_Kill the Nemean Lion_

_Kill the Hydra_

_Capture the Golden Hindof Artemis_

_Capture the Erymanthian Boar_

_Clean the Augean stables_

_Kill the Stymphalian Birds_

_Capture the Cretan Bull _

_Steal the mares of Diomedes_

_Find the Belt of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons_

_Drive the cattle of Geryon_

_Capture Ceberus_

_Steal the Apples of Hesperides_

"Looks like most of them are pretty much taken care of." Nico said, handing the paper back over to Thalia.

"The first two are, I helped kill the Nemean Lion at the Smithsonian with Percy, Zoe, and…" she looked at Nico uncertainly.

Sighing, Nico rolled his eyes and smiled, "Bianca. I'm aware that she's dead, so stop looking at me like that."

Appalled at the lack of emotion in the boys' voice, Thalia said, "You don't care that she's dead?"

Nico glared at Thalia, angry that she'd say something like that, "How _dare_ you say that I don't care. Of course I care! She was my sister! Just because I've accepted the fact that she's dead doesn't mean that I don't care."

"You've accepted it so easily?" the girl said incredulously.

The question didn't help his attitude at all, "_Never!_ I spent _months_ trying to see if I could bring her back!" He shouted. In a softer tone, Nico said, "It took me a long time to realize that some things are inevitable and can't be reversed."

"Is that why you accepted going on this quest so easily?" Thalia asked, looking at the pale face of the teenager that was still partially concealed by his hood.

"Nothing can stop something inevitable. Death is inevitable, getting hurt is inevitable, and the sun and moon rising and falling is inevitable." He said.

Leaning back, Thalia thought about what Nico said, "That's a depressing outlook on life." She said.

The boy shrugged and took another bite of his meal, "There's not much you can do about it."

"But there is!" Thalia said earnestly, leaning forward and eyes glazing over, seeing what was in her mind so clearly but was looking for the words to describe it. "You can't just accept something inevitable before it's even happened!"

"It's going to happen anyway, so why does it matter when I accept it or not?" The boy said, wondering where the girl was going with this.

"Because that's like giving up on life before you're dead! It's like saying that the sky's limit is the clouds and the horizon, that the sky doesn't go on endlessly afterward! You have to know that there is something else out there, and you can only know that if you give up on the belief that the only sky out there is the part that you see."

The spiky-haired girl looked at Nico with an uncharacteristically hopeful expression, eagerly waiting to see if what she said made sense. The pale boy's eyes narrowed in concentration, trying to grasp the meaning of the words.

While he was still thinking, the Thalia continued, "If you accept the inevitable before it happens, you won't be able to experience the endless."


	6. Hind is Not on the Menu

**Chapter 6 – Hind is Not on the Menu**

The sun had barely peaked above the horizon, staining the sky above multiple shades of yellow, orange, and violet before it melted back into the navy blue that still lingered from the night. Thalia looked at the glittering water of the canoe lake reflecting the dawning sky, leaning back into the rough bark of her tree. Beside her, the Golden Fleece sparkled from its place on the lower bough.

The girl sighed frustratingly into the chilly night air, and fiddled with the zipper on the black bag in front of her. Said bag was filled with survival supplies for the quest, the source of her frustration. Well, most of it. Most of her frustration was caused by a certain boy that she was unluckily forced to share company with.

After the semi-philosophical discussion the previous morning, the planning of the quest continued awkwardly. With the Nemean Lion and Hydra already killed, their first task was to capture the Hind of Artemis. Thalia let out yet another frustrated huff and moved from fiddling with the zipper to shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket and glaring off into the distance.

A certain dark-haired boy suggested setting a net or perhaps snagging it in a steel trap, since it was the easiest way to accomplish their first trail. She could not accept that. As a former Huntress, Thalia refused to cause any harm to the Hind of Artemis, physical or otherwise, seeing as it would be a grievous insult to her Lady.

The ensuing argument will have the offspring of the gods talking for months. If one were to look at the mess hall now, they would probably notice several new cracks in the ground and a certain bench smoked. Chiron eventually had to be called in to separate the two, and to give them the tasks of helping the harpies clean the dishes after dinner. The rest of the day for both of them was spent hacking at dummy targets or brooding in the forest.

By the time they had to clean the dishes, they had calmed down enough to at least organize how they were going to get to the Yellowstone National Park, which was where the Hind was last seen. They were to meet at the Hill before dawn, which was easiest for shadow traveling because it assured that there were shadows to appear into. The two would travel to Yellowstone and officially begin their search for the Hind.

So here she was, sitting underneath her tree, and Nico was late. Thalia huffed again and switched from having her hands in her pockets to fiddling with the zipper again. Looking around the hill, she saw Peleus, the Camp's new guard dragon relaxing deceivingly in the shadows in the copse of trees at the bottom of the hill. She knew that if she had come from the other side of the hill and not the camp's side, she would have found herself pinned underneath the dangerous claws of the dragon.

Peleus himself eyed the spiky-haired girl curiously through slit eyes that made him appear to be asleep. The dragon could tell that the girl was angry and waiting for something. Surveying his hill, he saw a movement in the shadows of the trees. Sharp eyes zeroed in on the movement and identified it as the dark boy he had seen playing with his friend, Miss O'Leary.

Nico trudged up the hill; a similar black bag to Thalia's weighing on his shoulders, irritation at the whole situation practically rolling off of him in waves. Thalia, seeing the boy, was on her feet and stomping to confront him. Nico, seeing this, smirked annoyingly and straightened his posture, rising to meet any challenge the girl would present. On his hand a ring glinted in the rising sun of the day, which was no longer touching the horizon.

However, before either one of them were close enough to exchange blows, a blazing comet raced through the sky and banished any traces of colors other than white. The comet came to a stop between the two at-odds teens and dimmed to reveal a startlingly blonde man in the front seat of a golden sports car.

"Ah! If it isn't my two favorite demi-gods!" Apollo trilled, stepping out of the car and looking at Thalia and Nico, who were both rubbing their eyes and trying to get the spots of white to disappear from their vision.

Thalia was the first to recover, "What do you want, Apollo?"

Apollo ignored her irate tone and answered the question, "I want you two, to succeed, and give those arguing idiots in Olympus something else to argue about." The sky rumbled, and the trees trembled. Apollo looked annoyed and glared up at the sky, "You know I'm right!"

"Wait, so we're really just a distraction?" Nico asked, finally rubbing the last of the spits away.

Apollo looked at him, "No. You guys are something like a new controversial TV show that everyone is watching."

The air around Thalia crackled. "You created a prophesy, threatened to end the world, and had to drag my butt into this, all for the sake of _entertainment_!"

The Sun god sighed, "No. I am giving Olympus a chance stop being selfish before I lose my mind and set this earth on fire by giving them something else to argue about."

"Why did you pick us?" Nico asked, crossing his arms and giving a death glare to Apollo.

"Because you two will get the most attention!" Apollo crowed.

"Why will we get the most attention?" Thalia asked.

Apollo laughed and moved to get in his car, "Now, now. I'm not going to give away all of my secrets!"

Before either of the demigods could ask another question, Apollo and his sports car chariot blazed back into the sky. Thalia and Nico stood there a moment before Nico walked up and grabbed Thalia's arm.

"Let's just go." He muttered and then plunged into the shadow world with his electric-eyed partner.


End file.
